The Next Generation
by Ginger-Holmes-Jones
Summary: Imagine work experience aboard the Enterprise, only the crew decide to leave their younger family members to their own resources aboard the ship. Antonina Chekov, Charlotte Scotty, Skelly Bones, Edward Kirk, Kre'Treslee Spock and Akio Sulu are about to find out why Tribbles can cause terror aboard a starship. Welcome to the children of the stars. (Crackish fluff).
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: So this chapter's just an introduction to what will essentially be the-adventures-of-teenage-relatives-of-the-Enterpr ise-crew. So... imagine the chaos the adult crew cause, and then times it by ten because they're still kids. Still playing about with ideas at the moment, so all feedback is appreciated! x**_

* * *

There was only one explanation: the Captain had gone mad. "Lighten up, it'll be fun!" He'd shouted to the Vulcan when they had previously discussed the idea.  
The Vulcan in question shook his head slightly. "Captain, I must object, children aboard th-"  
"I'm not listening Spock. This is happening. Deal with it." Kirk had grinned happily.  
Now, all these weeks later, it had finally happened - they were bringing _children_ aboard the enterprise.

* * *

It was a slightly unnerving sight to witness - it was near enough the crew of the Enterprise only in teenage form. The Captain's cousin was easy to spot, a blonde haired boy with bright blue eyes, roughly around seventeen. The young Vulcan next to him stood out, again a striking resemblance to his relative. He was around sixteen years of age and shared the rich brown eyes of Spock. Bones had brought along a rugged looking lad of sixteen, although he came across as more reserved than the chief medical officer. One of the few females amongst them was Scotty's niece; she was a fifteen year old girl with burning ginger hair streaming down her back and a temperament to match. Chekov's relative that he had invited on board was also a girl, like him she had curly chestnut hair and a broken Russian accent. Mr. Sulu's contribution to this event was his younger cousin; he was also a fencing enthusiast, with a passion for gardening.

To begin with, each crew member took their corresponding young person to their stations to show them what they did aboard the ship. Though after a few hours of this (when the teens had begun to grow restless) it was agreed that they could wander freely around the ship. The arrangements said that the youths were due to stay for a fortnight, to develop their skills and earn work experience. The aim was to improve their knowledge of space exploration and give them independence over their own education - this suited the new trainees just fine.

* * *

The girl with flaming ginger hair wandered into the kitchen and scanned over the room, it was her break from Uncle Scotty, and she intended to spend it well: having a sandwich. Humming to herself quietly, she began preparing her lunch.

"Heello...?" A girl with wavy brunette hair popped her head around the door, taking the other by surprise as she gasped and swivelled around to see the newcomer.

"Jesus ye scared me then lass... sorry, hi! Ahm here wi' Engineer Sco'ee." She frowned slightly at her own stutters.

The brunette only smiled wider. "So you are a vork experienze kid. I em here wiz ze ship Nawigator, Pavel Chekov." She nodded and skipped into the room. "My name iz Antonina, but you ken call me Anne. Eweryone does. Who are you?"

"Charlotte. Well, technically, bu' ah prefer Charlie." The Scottish girl offered her hand, and when the Russian took it, she shook it vigorously. "Pleasure t' meet ye."

"You hawe an interesting accent, Scotteez, da?" Anne asked, hopping up onto the counter as Charlie continued assembling her sandwich.

"Aye. Sco'ee is mah last name." She chuckled. "An' yer Russian. Obviously. D'ye wan' a sammich?"

The Russian blinked. "Sammich...?"

"Mm. Ah'll make yer one anyroad. So how old er ye?" Charlie asked, swiftly making another perfecty cut sandwich without concentrating.

"I em fifteen. You?" The girl swung her legs and watched with a grin.

"Fifteen." She slid the plate across the counter to Anne before picking up her own. "Ah say we go investigatin' then, Russian."

"You're on, Scotteez." Anne giggled and jumped down from the counter, sprinting back out of the room, sandwich in hand with the beaming young Engineer swiftly following her.

* * *

Akio Sulu sat comfortably under a bonsai tree in the green house. Since he was allowed a break from Piloting, he decided that this was the best place to spend it. He wanted to go and find these other trainees he'd been told about, but at that moment in time was far too comfy under his tree, so he dismissed it as something to do at a later date.

* * *

"Tribbles." Stated the Vulcan youth as he cast a critical look over the pipe.

"How do you know?" Frowned the blonde boy next to him.

"It is the only logical explanation." He retorted before carefully knocking on the pipe, arching an eyebrow as sounds of scuffling could be heard within. "We need to inform the Captain."

"Or we could just sort it out ourselves." Suggested a voice behind them, causing both of them to flinch instinctively. "C'mon, what are we here for? To go running off to those guys as soon as anything goes even slightly wrong? No. Have you even seen a Tribble? They're like fluffy little clouds!" The boy rambled on, only to receive a confused scowl from the blonde. "Oh, yeah, sorry. I'm with Bones. Call me Skelly."

The Vulcan was the first to speak. "Greetings. I am Kre'Treslee, though Spock is acceptable, as is Kre. This is my friend, Edward Kirk."

"Eddy." Corrected the other.

"_Eddy."_ He rolled his eyes. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Yeah lovely to meet you to and everything but back to the point, Tribbles in the piping, do you want to fix it or not?" Skelly grinned excitedly as pushed some of his black hair out of his face, his eyes scanning over the other two boys as he waited for their answer.

"I don't see why not." Eddy felt the other human's smile to be contagious and soon grew enthusiastic too.

"That is an incredibly illogical decision that will surely end in an inefficient-" The Vulcan got no further as his friend covered up his mouth using his palm.

"What Kre meant was: yeah this is something we can easily deal with. No point bothering the others." Eddy smirked and began to walk off down the hall. "Piping means Engineering, yeah? Let's go!"

* * *

_**A/N: That's it for the basic introduction, I'll try and get the first proper bit of the story up as soon as. Thanks! Comments and suggestions welcome.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Thanks for the reviews etc, hopefully this chapter will be an improvement. So yay! :) x**_

* * *

"I zought we were going inwestigating?" Queried the Russian from where she was sat on a pipe.

"We er. First, we're investigatin' mah Uncle's station. His mate Keenser's always up 'ere, ah wanted t' see why." Replied her Scottish friend. Both of whom were now sat on a large pipe positioned around five metres above the Engine Room floor, they were swinging their legs and finishing off "sammiches". At that moment, the sound of rushed footsteps could be heard echoing around the cavernous room. Charlie's grin dropped. "Fek! Ah dinnae wan' him t' kill me, hide!" With that. she lay horizontal on the pipe and clung onto it, peering down at the floor below. Anne soon did the same.

* * *

"Hello~?" Called out Eddy, confidently striding through the room. "Anyone home? Mister Scott? ...No? Excellent!"

Kre suppressed an eye roll. "Yes. Because if the Chief Engineer were present, he'd simply here you from all the way over here and walk out to greet the stranger. Very clever."

Eddy hissed. "Shut up."

"I shan't." Stated the other.

"Oh my God shut up, you're like an old married couple!" Cried out a frustrated Skelly as he jumped up onto a pipe and swiftly sprinted along it. "Tribbles can nest inside pipes, as long as they're not used pipes, so they're probably breeding somewhere in one of them..." His thoughts could progress no further as he abruptly emitted a high pitched scream, causing the other two to pivot around in panic. A pair of girls stood on the pipe in front of him, the first of which wielding a wrench.

"Who er ye, an' why er ye in mah Uncle's Engine Room?!" She glared. "Dinnae make me hit yer! Ah will!"

"I kan do zat..." Breathed the slightly smaller girl behind.

"Woah! Hey, we're just following pipes, I swear." Nervously laughed Skelly, raising his hands up in self defence.

The two girls whispered quietly for a moment before the first lowered her weapon. "Ah see. An' why er ye followin' pipes?"

"Tribbles nest." Piped up Kre.

Both girls flipped around to face him before the brunette jumped down and approached him. "...Work experienze?"

He nodded shortly. The girl beamed and threw her arms around him. "Charlie! We found ze other kids!"

"Ah, Charlie..." Began Skelly.

Charlie growled. "Dammi' Russian stop fraternisin' wi' our enemy!"

"I concur. Now please stop touching me." Instructed the tense Vulcan.

"All of you shut up!" A shout broke the tension. All of them turned to look at the frustrated blonde boy. "Russian girl, get off my Vulcan. Vulcan, calm down. Fire head over there, drop your weapon and stop causing fights. Skelly, back away from said fire girl and don't provoke anyone else." There was a brief pause where nobody moved, before they all gradually complied.

"...My name iz Anne. Not Russian girl." Mumbled the scowling girl.

"Fine. Anne. Sorry. I'm Eddy, that there's Kre, and over there is Skelly. We're just here looking for a Tribble nest." Eddy huffed.

"A Tribblez nest?" Perked up the girl. "I love Tribbles."

"Tribbles ruin pipin'... is tha' why yer here then?" The ginger asked, now paying close attention to the convoluted pipes around them.

Skelly nodded and started walking alongside the pipe he was on. "Yes. We need to get them out, and preferably 'fore the other's find out, 'kay?"

"Then ye need us, don't ye?" She grinned. "Aye. Ahm up fer tha'. Russian?"

"Da! I hawe always wanted my own Tribble." The Russian smiled in return.

"Well then it's agreed... lead us to the empty pipe." Eddy nodded with a grin forming across his face.

Kre pressed his eyes shut in an attempt to remain calm.

* * *

Two hours passed. They were still searching for the specific empty pipe.

"Eurgh, I thought you said you knew about pipes and stuff, so where's the one with the Tribbles in?!" Skelly whined in frustration, dragging his feet along the metallic floor.

"Ahm lookin', there er a few they could be in..." Charlie responded, tapping yet another pipe and listening closely. "Ah have a feelin-" She stopped mid sentence, her eyes widening slightly. "Go' th' li'l bleeders! This pipe!"

Anne grinned excitedly. "Which way does ze pipe go?"

"This one carries th' water t' plants oot in th' green house. Ah think anyway, as ye can imagine, takes a while t' memorise e'ery bloody pipe system in this place." She chuckled in response, straightening back up and looking to the others.

Kre's brow furrowed slightly. "Hm. How will we get the Tribbles out of the piping? I imagine they will not leave optionally, and we cannot hurt them. It is likely that they still have young in there."

"I have a plan." Eddy smirked. "It carries water outside, yeah? Flush 'em out then. Open the pipe, let the water out, and wash out the Tribbles with it."

"That could work..." Skelly nodded. "Ginge! Open the pipe!"

The girl murmured something under her breath and twisted a valve. "It's open, we better hurry, leave i' open too long an' we're gonna flood th' garden. Kill th' plants an' stuff."

"I know the quickest route there. Follow me." Instructed the Vulcan as he pivoted on his heel and began speed walking out of Engineering.

* * *

Akio looked up from the vine he was studying as the sounds of running water crept into his ear. Curiously, he glanced around him, and his gaze settled on a pipe a few metres away. It wasn't open before. Now it was. In a panic, the boy sprinted over and moved to close the pipe off; before he had chance water began gushing out, knocking him to the floor. "Agh!" He gasped, spluttering. Before he had chance to react, his vision was blurred by a mass of fluff, pinning him to the floor.

_Are these huge cotton buds...?!_

His thoughts were then muffled by more cotton bud things.

* * *

"Oh my God!" Gasped Anne, sprinting over to the pile of Tribbles and the limbs that could be seen underneath them. In a panic the others followed, as quickly as possible nudging the fluffy creatures off of the body underneath.

"Hey! Are you okay?!" Eddy shook him at the shoulders.

"Perhaps we should retrieve smelli-" Began the Vulcan, only to be cut off when Charlie slapped the boy on the floor back into consciousness.

Skelly leaned over the startled looking boy who shot a glare at the junior Engineer. "Mate, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a bit..." He blinked, recalling what had happened and feeling all too aware of the water still pouring out of the pipe. "Someone turn the water off!"

"M'already on it!" Shouted Skelly, himself and Kre wrestling with the valve. It began twisting and they grinned triumphantly - then only to realise that they had turned it the wrong way. More water spurted out of the pipe and knocked the crew to the floor amongst the Tribbles. For a few moments, there was only flailing, before the flow of water finally stopped.

"...Your break ended hours ago." A new voice spoke up. The teenagers looked up from where they were sprawled, taking in the sight of the unfamiliar woman in front of them. She smirked. "Call me Uhura. Your breaks ended hours ago, y'know? What in space are you doing?" A small laugh escaped her lips.

Kre sat bolt upright, attempting to pat his hair back into place and remain expressionless. "We were correcting an issue involving Tribbles." He gestured loosely to the trembling pile of fluff.

"Yeah, I can see that much." Uhura sighed. "I'll cover for you this time, but you need to be careful in future, okay?"

They all nodded in unison.

"Good... there's a main living space. I'm sure you've been shown there, go get dry and changed. There's no point trying to go back to work. I'll sort out the Tribbles." She smiled warmly, clearly still trying to hide her amusement as she began walking away again.

"Well then..." Charlie trailed off, raising an eyebrow at the drenched brunette shivering in her lap.

Akio sat up, looking around him at the new people. "Um. I'm Akio. You all just nearly drowned me to death."

Eddy grinned at him, having a hard time actually seeing the boy due to his own wet hair clinging to his face. "Welcome to the Enterprise."


End file.
